The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for electronically communicating between a device sending an electronic message having an electronic attachment to a receiver and more particularly, wherein the electronic message is sent by the device over a communication network to a server computer for storage thereon and is subsequently translated into a format which can be received by the receiver as a second electronic message with the electronic attachment embedded within the second electronic message.
Electronic messaging or email is well known in the art. It is a form of electronically communication between a sending device and a receiver. Typically, in the prior art, the sending device has been a computer with the receiver al so a computer. Thus, email communication has also entailed the use of an electronic attachment in which a file is attached to the email and sent by the sending device to the receiving device. The file may contain images, text, audio/video data, spreadsheet or other forms.
The email with the attachment is typically sent over a private network (Intranet) or a public communication network (Internet) and stored on a server computer having a storage device. The receiving computer then retrieves the email with the attachment. In order to xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d the attachment, the receiving computer must have the necessary software to open the electronic attachment. Examples of software to open electronic attachment s include word processing programs, such as programs having *.doc extension, or spreadsheet programs having the *.xls extension, or other programs having the *.pdf extension etc. These programs, resident on the receiving computer, are then started and then can be used to open the electronic attachment, which is attached to the email. In this manner, the receiver at the receiving computer can then review the electronic attachment.
Increasingly, emails are also being used to send electronic messages from one location to a wireless location. A wireless device can be a telephone, pager, or a PDA (personal digital assistant). Although many of these wireless appliances have adopted the wireless application protocol or WAP which is a widely adopted programming language used to format text and other information from a sending device for delivery to the small screen on the wireless device, these wireless devices do not have the complexities of a computer to execute different types of programs in order to open the myriad of possible electronic attachments attached to an email. Thus, while a sending device may send an email with an electronic attachment via the Internet or Intranet, in the increasing mobile environment, it is uncertain that a computer having stored programs, which can open the attachments, will receive the email. Wireless devices will increasingly receive such device and have the need to open the electronic attachment attached to the email.
Heretofore, one prior art solution to the problem of insuring that the receiver can receive the electronic attachment is for the sending device to initially send the email along with the electronic attachment in the protocol of the receiving device. Thus, rather than sending the electronic attachment as an xe2x80x9cattachmentxe2x80x9d, the data within the attachment is converted into the format which can be received by the xe2x80x9cexpectedxe2x80x9d receiver. This method suffers from the drawback that the true caliber of the attachment may be lost in the conversion process. Secondly, it assumes that the sending device or the sender knows precisely the protocol of the receiver. Finally, it is a burden on the sender to convert the format; hence it is burdensome and less desirable.
Another heretofore method is the use of plug-ins for browsers. The WAP protocol prescribes in essence a xe2x80x9cminixe2x80x9d browser. The wireless device can have various xe2x80x9cplug-insxe2x80x9d loaded which then can open the electronic attachment. The problem is that the receiver must have the myriad of possible plug-ins available at its disposal in order to select the proper one to be able to translate the attachment.
Hence, it is desirable to find a solution to the foregoing problem of insuring that a receiver can open an email with virtually any type of electronic attachment attached thereto.
Accordingly, in the present invention, a method of electronically communicating between a device sending an electronic message having an electronic attachment to a receiver is disclosed. The electronic message is sent by the device over a communication network to a server computer for storage thereon. The receiver operates a software to access the server computer to receive the electronic method. The method comprises retrieving the electronic message with the electronic attachment by a computer. The computer opens the electronic attachment and sends a revised electronic message with the electronic attachment in the revised electronic message to the receiver.
The present invention also relates to an electronic system to accomplish the foregoing. Finally, the present invention also relates to a computer readable media for executing the aforedescribed method on a computer.